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Crusade
Crusade is a spin-off of Babylon 5. The TV movie A Call to Arms serves as a pilot, linking from the original series. J. Michael Straczynski noted in the DVD Commentary to A Call to Arms that Crusade was intended to have a five year story arc, just like Babylon 5, however he also noted that the Drakh storyline would have been wrapped up by the end of the intended second season and the show would have moved on to other story arcs. However, conflicts arose between the producers and executives at TNT, and production was cancelled before the first episode was broadcast. Thirteen episodes were made and broadcast by TNT, with at least four more scripted. The Sci-Fi Channel attempted to pick up the show and continue production, but was unable to find room in its budget. There has been some controversy among the fans as to the correct order in which the episodes should be viewed. Production Information *Number of Episodes Produced: 13 *Original Network: TNT *On Air: June 9, 1999 - September 1, 1999 *Created By: J Michael Straczynski *Executive Producers: Douglas Netter & J Michael Straczynski *Producer: John Copeland *Director of Photography: Frederick V Murphy II *Production Designer: John Iacovelli *Edited By: Jeff Hodge, Michael B Hoggan & Skip Robinson *Music By: Evan H Chen Cast *Gary Cole as Captain Matthew Gideon *Tracy Scoggins as Captain Elizabeth Lochley *Daniel Dae Kim as Lieutenant John Matheson *David Allen Brooks as Max Eilerson *Peter Woodward as Galen *Marjean Holden as Dr. Sarah Chambers *Carrie Dobro as Dureena Nafeel Background to Crusade Drakh Attack In 2267, seven years after the end of the Shadow War the Drakh, a former ally of the Shadows, attempt to destroy the Earth with a leftover Shadow Planet Killer. Interstellar Alliance president John Sheridan takes command of the Excalibur and Victory and leads the EarthForce and ISA fleets to victory. Despite defeating the Drakh Sheridan's fleet was unable to prevent the Drakh from releasing a nanovirus weapon into Earth's atmosphere, infecting everyone on the planet. Within five years the plague will destroy all life on the planet. The Victory was destroyed in the battle, but the Excalibur survived. Mars Independence After the Earth Alliance Civil War in 2261, Earth joined the Interstellar Alliance. As promised by John Sheridan, Mars was granted independence since ISA laws required members to free any colony where the majority of colonists want independence. There is still resentment between the two sides. Earth controls most of the information systems and resources in the solar system and Earth based corporations control much of the Mars economy. As a result there is some hostility among Mars-born humans towards Earthers and many in EarthForce do not feel obligated to risk their lives to help Earth fight the plague. Telepath War At some point between 2262 and 2267 a civil war broke out on Earth between the Psi Corps and mundanes, assisted by a group of rogue telepaths. As a result of the war, the Psi Corps were disbanded and telepaths were given limited rights and allowed back into society. Few telepaths have advanced very far due to how recent the war was and common fear of telepaths. Telepaths are still banned from scanning others without consent and are required to be deep scanned by powerful telepaths on a regular basis to ensure that they are not violating any laws. Plot The series starts just after the events of A Call to Arms, in which the Drakh infected Earth with a Nanovirus which will wipe out all life inside of five years. Capatin Matthew Gideon is summoned to mars, where he is to take command of the IAS Excalibur to begin a mission to find a cure for the Drakh Plague somewhere in the depths of space. Captain Gideon was handpicked to command the IAS Excalibur by ISA President John Sheridan, due to the fact that Gideon has proved that he is willing to take chances and will not let diplomacy intefere with completing his mission. The first challenge Gideon faced was assembling his crew; there was some reluctance about bringing Dureena Nafeel onto the crew as she was a member of the Thieves Guild, however Gideon was able to get her onboard and with her help he was able to get a Technomage named Galen to join the crew. With his crew assembled Gideon left in search of a cure Episodes 13 episodes of crusade were produced before TNT cancelled the series. According to posts by J Michael Straczynski, which are archived on jmsnews.com, TNT broadcast the episodes out of the intended sequence. The order of the episodes was then revised when they were re-broadcatsed on the Sci-Fi channel, the Sci-Fi channel actually contacted Straczynski and asked which order he would preferr the episodes were broadcast. A third order was formally endorsed by Straczynski as the "true" chronological sequence of events for the filmed episode, as it appeared in The Official Babylon 5 Chronology (published in the pages of The Official Babylon 5 Magazine in 1999-2000). This particular ordering supersedes Straczynski's own "preferred" sequence from a strictly chronological and causal standpoint. The original broadcast order as set by TNT was used for the DVD releases. Completed Episodes Unfilmed Episodes A Further three scripts had been completed by the time Crusade was cancelled. *'"To the Ends of The Earth"' **Written By: J Michael Straczynski **Intended Episode Number: 14 *'"Value Judgements **Written By: Fiona Avery **Intended Episode Number: 16 *'"The End of the Line"''' **Written By: J Michael Straczynski **Intended Episode Number: 22 Position in Relation to Other Episodes Had these Episodes been filmed the first season should have looked like this: DVD Releases All 13 episodes have been released on DVD with some limited special features. For More Information see: *Crusade DVD *Babylon 5: The Complete Universe DVD Trivia * J. Michael Straczynski wrote 10 of the 13 episodes. * The first eight episodes aired were actually the last filmed. The final five episodes with the "new" uniforms were the first filmed before TNT halted production to completely redesign the show's set and costumes. * J. Michael Straczynski tried to remove his name from the writer credits. He registered the pseudonym "Eiben Scrood" with the WGA, but the WGA caved to pressure from Warner Bros. and would not allow the pseudonym. * The Show Contains several similarities with the anime series "Star Blazers" (1979). The biggest is the fact that both shows are about starships sent from Earth to retrieve the cure for a planetary disaster. Another is the "primary weapon" of the ships - a massively powerful one-shot cannon. * Part of Gary Cole's costume was a class ring for "EarthForce Academy". He kept the ring and wore it in his next role, as Lumberg in Office Space * The cliffhanger ending of the first season was going to be a view through a sniper scope focused on Captain Gideon (Gary Cole) with a fade to black, and the sound of a gunshot. * The hated gray and red uniforms were going to be "accidentally" destroyed in a "laundry accident" in the second-to-last episode of the first season * The script for the last episode of the first season was going to be the beginning of a rift between Gideon and Galen and called for Gideon to discover that Techno-Mages were actually former Shadow agents who had rebelled. * Although there were many theories, the origin of the Apocalypse Box was never revealed. * The script for the second-to-last episode of the first season called for a battle between the Excalibur and the rogue spaceship which destroyed Captain Gideon's first ship. * Patricia Tallman, who played Lyta in Babylon 5, was originally scripted to be in "Path of Sorrow" in a flashback with Lt. Matheson. But the deal fell through and they had to revise the script without her. External links * Crusade at the Internet Movie Database *